COP28: Oil producers resist fossil fuel phase-out pledge

Petrostates, led by Saudi Arabia, pushed back against attempts to take a hard line on phasing out fossil fuels, while the West-including the USappeared to be uneasy with acknowledging that it needs to take more responsibility for their historical role in the climate crisis, negotiators and observers at the COP28 climate conference said.

- Jayashree Nandi

Petrostates, led by Saudi Arabia, pushed back against attempts to take a hard line on phasing out fossil fuels, while the West — including the US — appeared to be uneasy with acknowledging that it needs to take more responsibility for their historical role in the climate crisis, negotiators and observers at the COP28 climate conference said.

Tensions during negotiations rose during the climate talks on Saturday as countries dug in on their positions, with the latest spark being fresh opposition by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) against any language targeting fossil fuels in the climate agreement being negotiated.

Saudi Arabia, on behalf of Arab countries, said there was no universal solution to climate change that applies to all countries. “We need context-specific approach. Countries will adapt specific technologies based on their circumstances and its critical to have both renewables and removals to be promoted,” Saudi Arabia’s negotiator said during a high-level ministerial meeting on the issue of pre-2030 ambitions.

On Friday, during a plenary, its representatives said: “We’d like to stress that the Paris Agreement focuses on limiting emissions and doesn’t tackle the sources of these emissions. Adaptation, however, is still something that we need to make more progress on. And we have to stand together and to reach roadmap on the global goal for adaptation.”

China, India and other developing nations — which rely on fossil fuels that are cheaper — too were not happy with the language but were engaged in conversations on how a balance could be found, people aware of the discussions said.